The streak for Paul Schipper has ended. Flags flew at half-staff on Tuesday at Sugarloaf Mountain in Carrabassett Valley, Maine in his honor.

Paul Schipper died Monday, February 16, at the Maine Veterans Home in Bangor of complications of pneumonia. He was 85. He had been hospitalized since December 2008 after breaking his hip.

He holds a record that skiers for years to come will find hard to beat. Schipper had a streak of skiing going for more than 24 years at Sugarloaf. While his streak ended on January 4, 2005, due to illness, those who knew him will always remember the true Ironman of skiing.

He began his quest in 1980 and skied 3,903 consecutive days that the mountain was open, ending in January, 2005.

I spoke with Schipper in the spring of 2003 at the Seasons pass holder's barbecue at Sugarloaf. He said that he really didn't intend to set any kind of a record back then. "It just happened, I started skiing every day. It's getting harder now, it's become an obsession," he said.

Schipper was honored a few years ago by having a trail named after him. Schipper's Streak on the lower Narrow Gauge trail at Sugarloaf.

He even had a parking spot reserved for him, 'the Ironman of skiing' at the base of the SuperQuad.

The former airline pilot came to the Carrabassett Valley area with his wife, Christine in the 1960s, running the Lumberjack Inn in the shadow of Sugarloaf Mountain. They also ran Kibby Kamp fishing and hunting camp in Kibby Township.

Schipper never took a day off from skiing, but it almost happened. He arranged to take a run at midnight in front of a snowcat's lights that was grooming the slopes. Shortly after, he drove to upstate New York to attend his son's graduation.

He not only weathered natural element storms, but also health issue storms, when he postponed a cancer operation until springtime just to keep his streak alive.

A celebration of life is scheduled to be held Saturday morning at Sugarloaf Mountain. Skiers and riders will meet at the Jean Luce building at the base of Competition Hill, where Reverend Pam Morse, Richard 'Crusher' Wilkinson, vice president of operations and Warren Cook, former owner of Sugarloaf will reflect on Paul's life. Schipper's family also plans to attend. A parade of skiers and snowboarders will take a run through Schipper's Streak.

During our conversation at the Sugarloaf Inn that day in 2003, I introduced Paul to my new grandson, Andrew Rent who was only three months old. Schipper shook his little hand and asked him if he might continue the streak some day after he was done. I reminded my grandson who is now seven of that meeting today. He said "maybe, when I grow up, if you ski with me."

Ski and ride safely. Use your head and don't forget to wear a helmet.